Marshals Take Custody Of Brown For Washington Case

Chris Brown (C) leaves court where his attorneys rejected a plea deal that would have found him and his bodyguard guilty of simple assault on January 8, 2014 in Washington, DC. Brown faces a misdemeanor assault charge for allegedly punching a man in the face in October 2013. (Photo by Kris Connor/Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The U.S. Marshals Service has taken R&B singer Chris Brown into custody to transport him to Washington, D.C., for his upcoming misdemeanor assault trial.

Marshals spokeswoman Laura Vega says Brown was transferred into the agency’s custody from a Los Angeles jail on Wednesday. She declined to say when the Grammy winner would be sent to Washington.

Brown is scheduled to go on trial later this month on the misdemeanor charge. The singer and his bodyguard are accused of hitting a man outside a hotel in October.

Brown has been in a Los Angeles jail since mid-March, when a judge ordered him taken into custody after the singer was dismissed from a court-mandated rehab program.

Brown’s attorney Mark Geragos was not immediately available to comment on the transfer. Geragos had been seeking to block Brown’s transfer into the marshals’ custody.